Thanks for the link. It's late and brain fog had set in so ignore my previous post.

As noted in the patt abbrevations 'tbl' is standard 'through back loop.' Working those on each edge just creates a slightly decorative sel st. The reduction in st count (such as the 103 to 63 for smallest sz) is achieved by the 'P3tog'....which is a dec. I don't see any other decs worked in the patt (sleeves have incs). If you're working the two edge sts 'tbl' as indicated it should turn out as written. You're making an 8" rectangle and will then reduce your st count in the final few rows.